🫙 The Florida Preserving Calendar

What you can harvest this month in Florida — and the honest, food-safe way to keep it. Because a bumper crop you can't store is just a very impressive compost pile.

⚠️ The one preserving rule that matters: low-acid vegetables (green beans, corn, squash, carrots …) can only be pressure-canned — never water-bathed. Water-bath is for high-acid foods and vinegar pickles only. When in doubt, freeze it and read our water-bath canning safety guide before you boil a single jar.

Method key: Eat fresh best as-is Freeze blanched unless noted Dry dehydrate or air-dry Ferment salt brine or vinegar pickle Water-bath high-acid / pickled only Pressure can low-acid only

📚 Keep learning

🌶️ Fermented Hot Sauce — turn your pepper surplus into probiotic gold
❄️ Freezing the Harvest — blanching times and the honest truth about texture
🌿 Drying Herbs the Right Way — keep that basil flavor all winter
🫙 Water-Bath Canning Without Fear — the pH 4.6 rule and botulism science

Harvest windows derived from UF/IFAS Florida planting dates (the same data behind our Seed-Starting Countdown) plus typical days-to-maturity for each crop. Microclimates vary — when in doubt, ask your county extension.